The Bureau of Pollution Control for the city of Atlanta, GA is respons
ible for four water pollution control plants. A hypermedia training sy
stem is being developed that is intended to be used by supervisory, op
erational, and maintenance personnel who control the water treatment f
acilities at the plants. The primary objective of this research effort
is to develop an effective combination of text, figures, photographs,
computer animations, and live video connected via hypertext links tha
t motivates and communicates with the plant personnel. The methodology
used to accomplish this goal is iterative design, which allows consta
nt feedback from potential users of the system and emerging technologi
es and media to be gradually incorporated into the system. The develop
ment of a hypermedia training and reference system presents many probl
ems in the successful integration of technology, information, and pers
onnel. To support these needs, an audience description was formulated
in order to understand the user characteristics. The basis of the info
rmation content of the system was obtained from an operations manual d
eveloped by plant management. Photographs, figures, and animations hav
e been added to augment the text. An implementation schedule featuring
iterative design with frequent behavioral evaluations was used to ref
ine the content and incorporate appropriate visual aids. Alternative u
ser interfaces, one based on the original manual and another based on
a flow diagram of the processes at the plant, have been proposed to me
et the needs of both inexperienced and experienced employees. The meth
odology for implementing the system and experiences in implementing it
are discussed. The initial development of a text-based system was dri
ven by the results of behavioral-evaluations. Future developments will
be based on behavioral evaluations and the use of visual technologies
.